Featherlight Taction

There's someone inside me that softly kills everyone around
They don't know they're dead to me cause intent never makes a sound
All along they found I strangled lovers who've learned from slower hands
With these eleven minutes I could teach you what I am

You're sick, sick as all the
Secrets that you deny
Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide
You're sick, sick as all the
Secrets that you deny
Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide

There's an art in seclusion. Production in depression
if a stranger turns up missing, this song is my confession
Tell the tales of the trail of dead, lovers learn from slower hands
Losing self in myself, inner demons make demands

You're sick, sick as all the
Secrets that you deny
Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide
You're sick, sick as all the
Secrets that you deny
Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide

You're suffocating me, so very hard to breathe
My mask is growing heavy but I've forgotten who's beneath

You're sick, sick as all the
Secrets that you deny
Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide
You're sick, sick as all the
Secrets that you deny
Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide

-Anberlin - Reclusion

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Featherlight Taction

Chapter 4- Awareness

Voldemort was thoroughly displeased.

Thoroughly, excruciatingly, infuriatingly displeased.

“Lucius!” he bellowed as he swept through the halls of his underground manor with an obvious goal. He black robes swept around him as he strode, giving him the strange appearance of floating. “Lucius!”

A man with stunning silver-blonde hair that fell down to his waist rounded the corner, looking shocked. His grey eyes widened as he caught sight of the Dark Lord rushing towards him and he unceremoniously stepped aside in case the man intended to pass him. “My Lord? Is something the matter?” he inquired carefully, making sure not to look into the snake-like man’s eyes.

Riddle scowled. “I did not, Lucius,” he jerked his palm upwards and Lucius Malfoy’s head snapped up to face him. “I did not free you from your imprisonment in Azkaban for you to sit here idly as Harry Potter plots to overthrow me!”

“My Lord?” Lucius responded, confused.

Voldemort shook his head violently, obviously disgusted at having to provide an explanation. “The boy is dull, Lucius. We all know this,” he spat, “But those who are with him are not so witless. His cohorts have obviously been planning something. The boy is at Hogwarts now. Why has he not been followed?”

The elder Malfoy looked stunned. “My Lord,” he began slowly, but Voldemort cut him off.
”Save the formalities, Lucius,” Tom snapped, “And tell me why you’ve not been keeping an eye on the brat.”

“We… we have been trying to overthrow the Ministry of Magic, my L-,” Lucius stopped himself before uttering the end of his sentence, trying not to show weakness as he strained not to wince for fear of reprimand. “The boy has not appeared in months-“

“And you think this is for no reason?” the Dark Lord bellowed. “No, you must believe he is merely napping all this time.”

Lucius tried to defend himself, but Tom gave him no room to speak.
”I overestimated you intelligence. To think that they at least are not training Potter. Merlin knows what else they are planning. Potter has been declared my one true adversary by public and prophecy alike, yet you do not deem him an issue?” Voldemort’s pale green skin contorted as he venomously continued, his hairless features contorted with aggravation. “This is a war, my dear Lucius, and as such the enemy must be watched at every turn. Do not concentrate solely on government ties.”

“But, my Lord,” Lucius interjected, “Must we not control the government if we are to control the people? Without a stronger force on our side, we have no way to bring down the entirety of the order of the Phoenix.” He waited with trepidation as Voldemort regarded him silently, his expression unreadable.

“You are correct,” he said finally, and Lucius relaxed slightly. “However,” Tom extended a spidery index finger and ran it slowly across Lucius’ jaw-line. “If you do not get some people on Potter, I will be very, very unimpressed.” He retracted his hand sharply and Malfoy’s eye twitched. “I want to know why, after all this time, he has returned to that old school.” As Lucis gave him an inquisitive look, he added an answer to the silent question. “The boy’s mind has been weak as of late. It is simple to see what he is thinking of when he concentrates on it so expressly as he often does. It’s pathetic, really.”

“What do you wish me to do, my Lord?” the blonde wizard inquired, “Shall I go to Hogwarts?”

Voldemort shook his head. “No, no,” he paused, thoughtful. “Actually, I have a much more inviting idea. Seeing as that annoying old man no longer resides in Hogwarts, I feel like paying that castle an overdue visit.” He waved his hand to silence Lucius as the man opened his mouth to protest. “I’ll take Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle. I need no more than that. After all, this will be a short excursion.”

“My Lord, do you wish to destroy the boy now?”

“Not at all,” Voldemort scoffed, as if the idea was simply ridiculous. “There will be a time and place for that. No, I simply wish to find out what he is up to. Besides, he needs a friendly reminder of my presence.”

“But the castle is a known location for some of the Order members,” Lucius continued in vain, trying to persuade the Dark Lord to remain in the manor. “Surely Potter will have some of them with him. It’s far too dangerous.”

“Are you implying,” Tom replied coldly, looking at the other wizard with dangerous red eyes, “That I cannot defend myself against a few measly witches and wizards? Protectors of mudbloods and blood traitors? Do you think that they could overpower me?” He ignored Lucius’ mortified look. “I will only be there for a short period of time. Just enough to say hello to Harry. I am so dying to see him.”

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“Blimey!” Ron exclaimed, gazing around the cathedral of a room in awe. “Look at all this stuff!”

Hermione was just as stunned, but Harry had seen this room before. Entering the high-ceilinged cavern, piled high with hundreds of objects, he looked around on nearby shelves, dead set on finding the item he desired. Stacks of dusty books, prank toys, and old candies littered the floor and he had to maneuver himself carefully around the odd rubble.

“This must have taken years and years to create,” Hermione gasped as she and Ron followed Harry. “Imagine what’s in here!”

“Well hopefully a horcrux is on the list,” replied Harry and he climbed onto a pile of books and peered onto a shelf that bore numerous copies of broom care manuals.

His comment seemed to snap Ron and Hermione out of their amazement and they started to search as well.

Ron picked up a book and peered underneath it, as if the horcrux would be hiding there. He turned to Harry. “What does a dayd…..diag….dild-“

“Diadem!” Hermione ejaculated in annoyance.

Ron flushed. “Well what does a diadem look like?” he murmured.
”It’s just like a tiara, Ronald,” Hermione responded briskly as she inspected an old telescope. “It will resemble a crown,” she added as Ron stood there dumbly.

“Oh…right,” Ron answered as he scratched the back of his red head in embarrassment.

Harry slid past shelf after shelf, gazing distractedly at their contents and he fingered his wand idly. Suddenly, a thought came to him. Surely it couldn’t be that easy. Clearing his throat, he raised his wand and uttered, “Accio diadem.”

Sure enough, Hermione let out a surprised squeak as a clutter of objects above her fell of the shelves and a silver gleam flew from the shelf into Harry’s waiting hand.

Ron stumbled over to Harry, who was looking quite surprised. “Who knew it’d be that easy?”

“Well I suppose whoever put it in here didn’t believe anyone would think to look for it in here, so anti magic charms were unnecessary,” Hermione stated as she prized herself from underneath a pile of rubble.

Harry was inspecting the crown, suppressing an urge to chuckle. It was a shimmering silver, with ornate carvings in the precious metal and shining blue stones set in its surface. “Seems a bit girlie for a horcrux, don’t you think?” he asked with a grin. Run guffawed.
”Oh don’t be ridiculous, Harry,” Hermione snapped, snatching the diadem from his fingers.
”Hey!” Harry started, but she smacked him in the shoulder and it effectively silenced him. He looked betrayed by the physical abuse and rubbed his shoulder in mock pain.

Hermione rummaged around in her bag for a minute and pulled out a vial of shimmering blue liquid. She’d explained to them beforehand what it was, and they swallowed nervously at the sight of it.

“Doesn’t look like it’s as dangerous as it is,” Ron gulped.

“Well it is, Ronald, so don’t bother me, “Hermione responded, laying the diadem down on the floor and handling the potion to Harry, who took it gingerly.

He lifted up the vial to face level and inspected it curiously. “So this will destroy the horcrux?” he asked, unbelieving.

“It will melt it down until there’s nothing left,” Hermione nodded as she spoke. “It’s Dindellum’s Acid. Can destroy any object that is controlled by dark magic.”

Ron grunted as he admired the concept. “Bloody hell.”

Hermione rolled her eyes and yanked Ron’s arm as they moved away from Harry and the horcrux. “Remember, Harry,” Hermione started.

“I know, I know,” Harry broke her off. “Run away from it as soon as I poor the potion on.”

“And don’t forget to levitate it! The potion will cling the diadem, so don’t worry about the floor…” Hermione continued to rattle off instructions, but Harry ignored her as he flicked his wand and the glittering crown rose into the air in front of him as if pulled by strings. And there, directly at the level of his chest, the horcrux floated.

He uncorked the vial and raised it above the diadem, ready to pour it upon the metal and rid the world forever of one shard of Voldemort’s soul.

He was scared, admittedly, of what was going to happen. They’d had no dark items to test the potion on, so there was no telling what would happen… if it would backfire. He heard Hermione cough pointedly behind him and, steeling himself, he tipped the potion and watched with a morbid fascination as the shimmering blue liquid fell onto the crown and latched itself to it like slimy fingers, covering every inch of the silver until it was now what appeared to be a floating ring of goo.

“Harry get away from it!” Hermione shouted.

But Harry was entranced. The diadem began to shiver and shake, and a small trail of steam began to spiral upwards. He narrowed his eyes. Was that a scream?

“Harry!”

The diadem was spinning violently now, its turns and twist so fast that Harry’s eyes lost track of how many times it danced through the air. A garbled shout sounded in his mind and his scar was set on fire. He let out a cry of pain and felt someone tugging at the back of his shirt. He didn’t budge. His feet felt nailed to the floor. The hand slipped away.

A cloud of smoke as big as Harry himself began to form. He could no longer see the horcrux, but he could still hear the angry yells that seemed to come from within the mist.

The fog sizzled and twisted as if gusts of wind were propelling it, and then, in one split second, Harry was inside it.

He howled in agony that resembled the pain of the Cruciatus curse as the smoke scalded his skin. It soaked into his flesh and his eyes snapped open, unseeing as the furious fog sunk into him, branding him; burning him.

A voice whispered to him.

You cannot touch me.

And then, it was over.

Harry fell to his knees, sobbing as his entire body throbbed and protested. His skin felt stretched and unwelcome, as if it were a trap and not his own flesh.

It took him a few minutes to realize that Hermione was shaking him and Ron was screaming his name. The raven-haired wizard struggled valiantly to focus his eyes and they finally rest upon his friends’ frightened faces.

“Oh thank goodness!” Hermione cried. “Harry what happened? We couldn’t see you and all we heard was you screaming…”

Harry couldn’t respond. He was still trying to push away the pain. His skin was just tingling now.

“Mate?” Ron knelt down to face Harry. “Are you ok?”

Harry nodded and realized that he hadn’t blinked for quite sometime.

“We should take you to Madame Pomphrey before we leave. She should check you over before-“

Hermione was cut off by a muffled shout. Then another, and another. They were coming from the halls outside the room.

Fearing the worst, the three hurried to the door of the Room of Requirement, Ron supporting Harry as the latter took one last look at where the horcrux had been. All that was left now was a burn mark on the floor. The voice he’d heard while in the smoke echoed through his mind. It had been Voldemort’s voice.

You cannot touch me.

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